Trevor Lawrence reportedly settled the lawsuit he was facing for his endorsement of FTX, a collapsed cryptocurrency exchange.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence agreed to a settlement in a class action lawsuit that was filed against him and several other celebrities and athletes last year for their endorsement of FTX, according to Bloomberg.
Lawrence, 23, was part of a group that included Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, and Shohei Ohtani who were sued and accused of misleading the public regarding FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed and went bankrupt in 2022. The founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, is currently facing several fraud-related charges and up to 100 years in prison.
Just prior to joining the Jaguars as the No. 1 pick of the 2021 NFL draft, Lawrence signed a multiyear sponsorship deal with FTX (known as Blockfolio at the time):
While many believed that Lawrence accepted his entire $24.1 million signing bonus from the Jaguars in cryptocurrency, he pushed back against that claim.
According to Bloomberg, Lawrence and YouTube influencers Kevin Paffrath and Tom Nash are the first three listed in the lawsuit to reach a settlement. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed in the report.
Lawyers leading the case told Bloomberg they are “engaged in ongoing confidential, settlement discussions” with other defendants and there is a “likelihood that other FTX settlements will be reached.”
The Barracuda Championship is the first PGA Tour event to accept cryptocurrency payments for tickets.
Celebrities got things started last week with a raucous party-type atmosphere at Edgewood Tahoe, where Tony Romo came out a winner.
Now, golf in the area gets a little more serious as PGA Tour pros arrive in Truckee, California, for the 24th Barracuda Championship.
The four-day event begins Thursday at the Tahoe Mountain Club on the Old Greenwood course.
Six former Barracuda champions are in the opposite-field event: Richy Werenski (2020), Andrew Putnam (2018), Chris Stroud (2017), Greg Chalmers (2016), JJ Henry (2012) and Scott Piercy (2011).
Local standout Ollie Osborne, a Bishop Manogue High School graduate who later played at SMU, is in the field on a sponsor exemption.
David Longmire, who won the 2022 Reno Open, a mini-tour event, in June, also earned a spot in the tournament.
One player who will not be at the Barracuda is defending champion Eric van Rooyen. He earned his first career PGA Tour win at the 2021 Barracuda Championship and that earned him a spot in the British Open this week at St. Andrews.
He became the first player with a winning score of +50 since the Modified Stableford scoring system was introduced in 2012. He is the sixth consecutive first-time winner of the Barracuda Championship but the first since Collin Morikawa in 2019 to win the tournament in his debut.
Van Rooyen’s score of +50 (+7/+17/+10/+16), set a record for the Modified Stableford format event. Geoff Ogilvy finished the 2014 Barracuda at +49.
The Barracuda is the only PGA Tour event that uses that scoring system. It’s also the only Tour stop held opposite a major championship.
The field includes 50 players from the DP World Tour.
Top players to watch
Maverick McNealy, who has top-20 finishes in back-to-back events, and is the 12-1 favorite according to Tipico. McNealy ranks third in eagles, 18th in birdie average and 34th in scoring average this year.
Other top contenders include Alex Noren, Cam Davis, Mark Hubbard and Taylor Pendrith.
Hubbard is coming off his best finish of the season with a third place at the Barbasol Championship. He has made 14 cuts with six top-25 finishes in 18 events.
Noren, who is from Sweden, has 11 wins as a professional, none on the PGA Tour, with most in Europe. He finished ninth in the Barracuda in 2020. He’s coming off a 30th-place finish at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, which ended a streak of missed cuts in three straight tournaments.
Fans watch the 2020 Barracuda Championship at Tahoe Mt. Club’s Old Greenwood golf course from a back porch in Truckee, California. (Photo: Tom R. Smedes/Special to Reno Gazette Journal)
Matthias Schwab could be another top player to watch this week, although he is listed at 35-1 odds. He’s coming off a 16th-place finish at the John Deere Classic. Schwab was in eighth after three rounds before shooting 1 over in his final round. Schwab earned his PGA Tour card last year and has three top-10 finishes in his rookie year. He has made 14 of 18 cuts, with five top-25 finishes this season.
More top contenders include Rasmus Hojgaard, who finished tied for 10th at the Scottish. He has only missed one cut through 12 starts on the DP World Tour and ranks 11th in driving distance for the season. Cam Davis is coming off an eight-place finish with four rounds in the 60s at the John Deere.
A first for crypto
The Barracuda Championship is the first PGA Tour event to accept cryptocurrency payments for tickets as well as hospitality and sponsorship packages. More than 300 different cryptocurrency are accepted, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin.
“We are incredibly excited to take this first step in innovating the sport we all know and love, and to offer our spectators a new way to enjoy the tournament,” said tournament director Chris Hoff. “The professional golf landscape continues to innovate and evolve, and we are honored to usher the PGA Tour into this new space.”
The Barracuda is also offering an exclusive VIP experience only to those golf fans who purchase with cryptocurrency. The VIP package will include private hospitality, an official tournament pro-am team and honorary observer experiences.
Tee times
Begin approximately 7 a.m. local (10 a.m. ET) Thursday and Friday and 8:30 a.m. local (11:30 a.m.) Saturday and Sunday after the 156-player field is cut to the top 65 and ties.
Modified Stableford scoring
The Barracuda is the only PGA Tour event to use the scoring system, in which players earn points for aggressive play.
A double eagle is worth 8 points, an eagle is worth 5, a birdie earns a golfer 2, par is 0 points, bogey is minus 1 and double bogey or worse is minus 3.
Purse
The purse is $3.7 million with $666,000 going to the winner.
TV
The Golf Channel will televise the Barracuda on Thursday and Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. ET, Saturday and Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m. ET.
Bitcoin has taken quite the dive in the last few months, falling from a record high of more than $66,000 in October down to around $21,000 today. The sharp decline for the world’s most popular cryptocurrency is representative of the larger crypto market, which is in a bit of a dry spell as a whole.
The news is tough to hear for those who aren’t as bullish on crypto as they might have once been, especially if they didn’t get out sooner. Among the ranks could be a few athletes who accepted some or all of their salary in crypto over the last year or so.
But while this graphic that surfaced on Twitter about stars who suffered the biggest losses made for a good joke (the caption, not the losses), it’s not completely accurate.
I don’t want to hear another word about Trevor Lawrence’s decision-making compared to Tua when stuff like this is out there (via Coinjournal[dot]net). pic.twitter.com/VKJ9Ycyy6F
The big name that jumps right off the page is Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who partnered with Blockfolio last April to have his entire $24 million rookie signing bonus paid in crypto. According to the chart, that $24 million would only be worth about $9 million today. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Lawrence lost $15 million.
What we don’t know is if and when Lawrence, or any of the other athletes’ losses were realized. Bitcoin was at about $54,000 when Lawrence’s deal with Blockfolio was announced last April. So it’s possible he actually made a profit if he pulled out at or near the October peak. Russell Okung may have even been one of the league’s highest paid players at one point thanks to receiving half his 2020 salary in Bitcoin.
Of course, for those who are still invested, it’s possible their losses could reach even more than what’s listed above. But as people who apparently believed in crypto enough to put millions into it, they’d tell you the market is going to turn and they’ll still potentially make money or break even. I wouldn’t bet on it, but hey, that’s just me.
The biggest thing to take away from the list is that none of the athletes were bullish enough to put their entire salary into crypto. Odell Beckham Jr. was the only one who did, but his $750,000 deal with the Rams was just a fraction of what he was paid by the Browns in the same year. And Sean Culkin would’ve put his entire salary into crypto, but he was cut last spring before he could even get the chance — and then retired. It was the ultimate all-in move. For the vast majority of the others, the salary conversion was simply another investment – a gamble. One that may or may not have paid off, but one they ultimately could afford to make.
In an interview with USA TODAY Sports, former Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux discusses Elon Musk’s buying of Twitter.
[jwplayer fSSofWxK]
As soon as Kayvon Thibodeaux stepped foot on the Oregon campus, he made sure everyone knew he was much more than just a football player.
While at Oregon, the soon-to-be high first round NFL draft pick was able to create his own cryptocurrency as well as signing an NFT (nonfungible token) deal with Nike.
Thibodeaux will certainly be active in the business world during and after his football career. But even he was confused when asked by USA Today Sports about Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter for the whopping price of $44 billion.
The former Duck compared Musk buying Twitter to buying an NFT and asked Musk to let him hold some of that Twitter stock, but “the check won’t clear for another 15 days.”
Thibodeaux was surely referring to that signing bonus he’s about to receive from the NFL team that is about to select him.
We will see where Thibodeaux gets drafted on Thursday night in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft. Whoever takes him surely knows at this point that they are getting an eclectic star who will be involved with much more than juts sports.
The team owner announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with Blockchain.com, a $14 billion digital currency platform. | From @ToddBrock24f7
Jerry Jones has negotiated big-time deals with heavy hitters in all corners of the business world. Over the course of just a few minutes at a press conference on Wednesday, the Cowboys owner name-dropped Pepsi, Bank of America, Nike, Ford Motor Company, and AT&T, among other iconic brands.
That’s the level that Jones placed the Cowboys’ newest sponsor on right out of the gates.
“This is as significant a relationship as I’ve been a part of with the Dallas Cowboys,” Jones said at The Star in Frisco as he announced a first-of-its-kind exclusive partnership with cryptocurrency platform Blockchain.com.
The deal makes the Cowboys the first NFL franchise to add a digital currency platform as a sponsor; the league said it would begin allowing such sponsorships only at the recent owners’ meeting in Palm Beach. The announcement of the historic and massive mega-deal comes just two weeks after the conclusion of those meetings.
Blockchain.com will receive club space inside AT&T Stadium, rights to social and digital integrations, highly visible signage in the stadium’s seating areas, and extensive advertising. It’s the first national sports deal for Blockchain.com, according to CEO Peter Smith, the kind that will deliver a new kind of mainstream acceptance to cryptocurrency’s early adopters, while also lending immediate legitimacy to the futuristic concept in the eyes of a the Cowboys’ huge fanbase, many of whom are newcomers to crypto.
While fans will not yet be allowed to use cryptocurrency at AT&T Stadium, they will have the chance to earn exclusive experiences, like trips to away games and events hosted by Cowboys players. Educational outreach will also be an element of the partnership, with summits to be held for interested fans wishing to learn about digital assets and emerging technologies.
“Growing up in rural America where football is deeply rooted in the culture,” Smith said, “I’m incredibly honored to join forces with the world’s most valuable sports franchise and the Jones family, who have dedicated their lives to building a first-class franchise on and off the field for 33 years.”
For the Cowboys, the move represents the kind of groundbreaking deal that Jones lives to make in the hopes that others will follow. Cryptocurrency is the future, Jones believes, and the Cowboys will help bring it to the masses.
“We’re making an association in what I certainly would tell you I believe is a huge, huge look-see into the future of how things are going to be in this country,” Jones said, “especially in transactions, currency, and that particular area.
Blockchain.com reports it has more than 80 million customers in over 200 countries and has had more than $1.2 trillion in transactions on its platform. Its most recent valuation was $14 billion.
“Who we run with,” Jones continued, “is a big deal for us.”
For months, Drake had been dropping hints about a possible partnership with the cryptocurrency betting platform Stake. Whether a picture of him playing an online game of roulette or a screenshot of his massive Super Bowl bet, the artist/actor made it clear he was at least a fan of the platform.
On Wednesday, more details were revealed as Drake officially announced on Instagram his partnership with Stake, calling it “inevitable.”
“Drake and Stake have come together,” he wrote in the caption, adding that he’ll be announcing an upcoming live event where he’ll play for real money that he plans to give away.
“Drake has been an active member of our global community for a few months now, so the next step and natural evolution in the relationship was for us to collaborate on a stream,” added Stake co-founder Ed Craven, per SBC Americas.
“We share the same love for crypto, gambling and community and are like-minded fans of the technology and culture at the forefront of this movement.”
Drake’s brand, which includes a following of 104 million people on Instagram, will bring a ton of exposure to Stake. It likely already has from just the images and videos he’s posted in the past, which always included the company’s logo somewhere.
Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).
A cryptocurrency group wants to buy the Broncos, with support from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. “I would be excited to be part of it myself,” Gov. Polis told CNBC.
A group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts that includes “attorneys, accountants, software developers, pro athletes, and at least one mathematician” wants to buy the Denver Broncos, according to a report from CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos.
The group plans to launch a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in early March under the name “BuyTheBroncos.” Their goal is to raise $4 billion to purchase the team.
“We know it sounds a bit crazy, but it’s also a bit badass,” Sean O’Brien, one of the groups leaders, told CNBC. “The purpose essentially is to establish an infrastructure so that fans from all walks of life can be owners of the Denver Broncos.”
The idea has even drawn support from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
While the idea sounds intriguing, it might be more of a publicity stunt than a practical attempt to purchase the NFL franchise.
“While having a fan-owned Denver Broncos in a DAO-based system would be amazing, that isn’t our final goal,” O’Brien told CNBC. “We want this effort to essentially open up peoples’ eyes to what a DAO can do in the real world and make a tangible connection between this web3 life and the real world. Our thought is that it accelerates DAO adoption for solving real-world problems such as food scarcity or unhoused peoples.”
League rules allow up to 24 people to co-own an NFL team, but every ownership group has to have a principal owner with at least a 30% stake. That rule might complicate the crypto group’s potential bid for the team.
Anyone who can come up with the money has a chance to bid, though, so if “BuyTheBroncos” secures the funds, it might be a group to watch.
The Broncos hope to complete a sale of the team before the 2022 season.
“We hear and understand the concerns raised by our community over NFTs,” Behaviour said in a statement to ForTheWin. “Absolutely zero blockchain tech exists in Dead by Daylight. Nor will it ever. Behaviour Interactive does not sell NFTs.”
Not that’s not to say the Masters of Horror NFT Collection doesn’t involve NFTs (it’s right in the name, after all), just that blockchain tech will not be in Dead By Daylight. This NFT collection does allow people that buy into it a chance to earn the Hellraiser Chapter expansion for the game, though.
Behaviour worked with Boss Protocol over several months to adapt in-game models for use as NFTs and approved them prior to the release of Pinhead in DbD. The NFTs have a chance to grant access to the #Hellraiser chapter of DbD. pic.twitter.com/3ZZKq3uPYN
Many speculated that Dead By Daylight might get removed from Steam since Valve does not allow games with blockchain technologies on the platform. As Behaviour interactive points out, the Masters of Horror NFT Collection isn’t part of Dead By Daylight when you boot it up. Take that for what you will!
Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, stated that games utilizing blockchain tech are welcome on The Epic Games store, The Verge reported Friday.
This news from Fortnite’s developer comes mere hours after Valve banned and delisted any games using NFTs, cryptocurrency, and blockchain technologies from Steam. Likely because The Epic Games Store is Steam’s largest direct competitor for selling PC games and software.
Epic told The Verge that the company is willing to work with developers that support cryptocurrency and blockchain-based assets on The Epic Games Store. Right after the story went live, Sweeny commented on the situation.
“Epic Games Store will welcome games that make use of blockchain tech provided they follow the relevant laws, disclose their terms, and are age-rated by an appropriate group,” Sweeny said on Twitter. “Though Epic’s not using crypto in our games, we welcome innovation in the areas of technology and finance.”
Epic Games Store will welcome games that make use of blockchain tech provided they follow the relevant laws, disclose their terms, and are age-rated by an appropriate group. Though Epic's not using crypto in our games, we welcome innovation in the areas of technology and finance. https://t.co/6W7hb8zJBw
Sweeny continued: “As a technology, the blockchain is just a distributed transactional database with a decentralized business model that incentivizes investment in hardware to expand the database’s capacity. This has utility whether or not a particular use of it succeeds or fails.”
Valve is not the only company Epic Games has gone toe-to-toe with recently. Last month, Apple blacklisted Fornite from its devices in response to the ongoing legal battle between both companies.
Ever since the NCAA allowed student-athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness, Oregon Ducks defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux has been busy creatively finding ways to market himself, while earning a little cash before he departs for the even greener pastures of the NFL next year.
His latest endeavor is $JDream, a new cryptocurrency launched by Thibodeaux on Thursday and available for trading exclusively at Rally – a platform for creators who want to build their own digital economies.
“I feel like crypto is such a new space and having an athlete involve in it kind of changes the dynamic of how athletes are viewed,” Thibodeaux told ESPN. “I started looking at crypto in high school and seeing the future in crypto and how far it can go, this was the next step in starting my future.”
[lawrence-related id=8219]
Thibodeaux named his coin, which is expected to begin selling at less than one dollar per share, after the JDream Foundation, which he formed in order to provide assistance and opportunities for disadvantaged youths. Twenty percent of the initial release of $JDream will go to this foundation.
The plan is for roughly 100k to hit circulation for the initial launch, and upwards of 21 million coins to hit circulation in total – with release schedules to be dictated by product demand.
For those interested in purchasing $JDream, they will be entered into a shared online community via Discord, and will have access to exclusive merchandise.
“We’re thrilled to see young athletes exploring the ways in which crypto can facilitate deeper connections with fans,” Rally’s VP of Partnerships Nick Millman said in a statement. “Innovators like Kayvon are reinventing how athletes and fans interact.”
Thibodeaux’s latest endeavor comes on the heels of a NFT deal with Nike founder Phil Knight, as well as deals with United Airlines, PlantFuel, and Starface.
